Meet Nate Otto
I'm Nate Otto, owner of Rum River Restoration, and I've been restoring player pianos full time since 2014. I've restored over 33 player pianos to-date!
It all started when my family's player piano quit working. This was a 1916 Packard upright that my grandpa had installed a vacuum cleaner motor in back in the 60's. As a kid, I grew up listening to songs from the Lion King and Pink Panther with the vacuum motor groaning in the background. In 2014, the player system gave up the ghost completely, and I decided I wanted to bring it back from the dead.
To get started, I purchased a How-To book from a small online bookseller called Amazon. My search for restoration materials led me to Donald Barton, owner of Barton Player Piano in Minneapolis. I ended up buying more than just materials from him; I hired him to teach me tips and tricks of the trade. With his help, and gluing, ungluing, and regluing I successfully resuscitated our heirloom piano. After lots of getting our family piano working again - this time with its original foot pumps. Operating the player piano by foot power as it was originally intended got me hooked!
After completing the Packard project, Mr. Barton saw I had the patience and occasional ingenuity that restoration work requires and hired me part time in his shop. This apprenticeship exposed me to the many varieties of player systems and their designs.
When Mr. Barton retired in 2018, I started out on my own and Rum River Restoration was born.
I'm proud to say I've been working on player pianos full time ever since. I enjoy the challenges and opportunities for problem solving that restoration work demands. I find great satisfaction in bringing a derelict piano back to life and saving it from the landfill. And above all I am grateful for my enthusiastic and supportive customers who allow me to do this work and become part of their heirloom piano's story.
If you have a project you'd like to discuss, I'd love to hear from you!
-Nate
